I hope you are not shocked by the Title above ...!
Since Nov 2008, I have been wearing a bulky knee brace else I cannot walk longer than an hour when I am out of the house as the knee would hurt.
Sometimes I used the umbrella or a walking stick to help me walk if there is a need.
I have never taken pain killer for any discomfort in the knee but rest instead if it hurt badly and move around with a knee guard or walking stick ( I used to have one in the office and one at home at one time...! ).
I also use a plaster like Kentotop or equivalent overnight on my knee if they really hurt or even iced it too.
My Dr has suggested that I go for a total knee replacement surgery as he believes that is the only solution. Since I choose to delay it, he recommended me to wear this bulky knee brace instead.
While I have seen or met a few people who have successfully undergone the knee replacement surgery and it is quite common esp for elderly folks who really could not walk due to intense pain in their knees, I wanted to delay the operation as long as possible.
I sought physiotherapy to strengthen my leg muscles so that my knee would not hurt so much and also tried to lose some weight too. There were some results but my physiotherapist also commented that I cannot run away from undergoing a knee replacement surgery one day.
I have been looking for options and to delay the operation as it can only last an average of 10-12 years and a second knee replacement is necessary BUT you can only do such a surgery twice in your life only as they have to cut your leg bones in order to do the replacement.
I was delaying the operation so that with the advancement in medicine and technology, there will be improvement in the knee replacement surgery; eg last longer than 12 years and eventually only one operation will do.......?
For the past year or so , I have been monitoring this advertisement on Apostherapy available locally. Eventually, I went for their talk and after researching for more info on the Internet, I decided I wanted to give it a go if it can help me delay my knee replacement surgery early this year.
I signed up for their 1 year programme in late Feb 2014 and I just have my 2nd review with my physiotherapist at Apostherapy yesterday. There have been significant improvement and I have to continue wearing the shoes and sustain it, as shown in their test results too.
Since May, I have stopped wearing my bulky knee brace and I was able to walk for more than 1 hour without complaining of pain and when there was some slight discomfort , I would walk with a more pronounced limp but unlike last time, I would look for a place to rest or hurry to go home to rest.
Freedom at last ....!
Even my wife was surprised when we were shopping or running our chores in early May and I was not wearing my bulky brace and moving around the whole afternoon in Orchard Road...!
I went back to Penang in late May to attend my niece wedding and I did not wear my knee brace and I did not bring my Apostherapy shoes along too.
Do not get me wrong, I am not saying it is a miracle and I am 100% back to normal as if my left knee is as good as before. It is not!
But my objective was to walk without my bulky braces for more than an hour and it looks like it has been met in about 4 months....!
Well, I strongly recommend you to try out Apostherapy if you have knee and lower back pain.
Honestly, I am surprised by the results and I am very happy with it.
